Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 27th, 2012
In the 1930’s and 40’s MGM was trying to get in on the lucrative animation game. The field was dominated at the time by Warner Brothers with their Loony Tunes shorts, and of course, the iconic cast of animated characters coming out of the Walt Disney Studio. For years they had failed to find the right property to take advantage of the market. It wasn’t until the team of William Hanna and Joseph Barbera approached the studio with their first project that the times did change, at least a little, for the fledgling animation department at MGM.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on March 26th, 2012
Released back in 1982, Treasure Train tries to capture the imagination of kids as Disney had for years but with a much smaller budget. Helmed by surrealist artist and director Fernano Arrabal, he crafts a film heavy on the power of a child’s imagination and sense of adventure. To be fair I had to give this movie a second viewing not because I liked it but because it was so weird I had to make sure what I saw was real.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by M. W. Phillips on March 26th, 2012
“Ohh. Oh, Fritz? Fritz, get up for God's sake! Get up! They've killed Fritz! They've killed Fritz! Those lousy stinking yellow fairies! Those horrible atrocity-filled vermin! Take that! Take that! They killed Fritz!!!”
Ralph Bakshi is probably best known for his x-rated animated adaptation of R. Crumb’s Fritz the Cat, the first animated film to receive an x-rating from the Motion Picture Association of America and still turn into the most successful independent animated feature of all time. When his second and also x-rated animated feature, Heavy Traffic, a blacker than coal satirical comedy
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Bob Ross on March 25th, 2012
The strangely compelling pop-rockers first played publicly in February 1977. Almost exactly 34 years later, the B-52s soared again into their hometown, delivering an exuberant, hit-filled set at the Classic Center in Athens, Ga. Fortunately for concert-party aficionados, the show was captured in high-def, widescreen glory for the Blu-ray winner, The B-52s With the Wild Crowd! Live in Athens, GA. If you’re already a fan of “the world’s greatest party band” (it says so right on the dust jacket),
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on March 23rd, 2012
Most of the people when they hear the name Titanic think of the ship that sank almost one hundred years ago to this day. Well, except for James Cameron who thinks of the oodles and oodles of dollar bills that he bathes in on a daily basis. Regardless, the people at A&E and the History Channel decided to bring us three documentaries and five hours of knowledge on perhaps the most famous ship of them all. The RMS Titantic.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on March 22nd, 2012
Even though I'm guilty of doing it myself, I always laugh a little when I hear someone complain that certain actors "just play themselves": as if you or I actually know these celebrities personally and have the authority to say what they're like in real life. Of course, what we really mean is most movie stars have found a screen persona that has connected with audiences and — in the spirit of giving people what they want (or laziness) — tend to stick pretty close to that image, adding only a tweak when we catch on to their game. (I mean, do we really want to see Sylvester Stallone tackle Hamlet? Wait, that would be amazing!)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by M. W. Phillips on March 22nd, 2012
“Chill out? Am I the only one hearing this? This thing attacks people, Jane, and she wants to go looking for it, because she has deranged fantasies about the unexplained!”
In Splintered a group of teens go seek the truth behind the northern Wales urban legend known as the Beast of Bodmin, a creature who may be responsible for the death of a bunch of livestock and the disappearance of a number of tourists and citizens. Sophie (Holly Weston) lives with unsuppressed childhood memories of being assaulted in her bedroom by some kind of beast man.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 21st, 2012
“It’s time to play the music. It’s time to light the lights. It’s time to meet the Muppets on the Muppet Show tonight…”
What do the following huge stars all have in common: Elton John, George Burns, Peter Sellers, Don Knotts, Bob Hope, John Cleese, Madeline Kahn, and Milton Berle? They all were guests on The Muppet Show. It would be pretty hard to argue that the series didn’t became the in place for A-list entertainers to have a little fun. Like a neighborhood clubhouse, the top stars would come to the show and allow themselves to be often upstaged by Henson’s cute little creatures.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on March 20th, 2012
After watching Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, my mind wandered over to Inception of all places. Remember how Ellen Page's character pretty much only existed so other people could explain to her — and, by extension, us in the audience — the rules of the movie's universe and what the hell was happening? Well, watching Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy for the first time felt a lot like what I imagine Inception would look like if Page's novice architect hadn't been in the script: words and items have dual meanings, characters have double (and triple) motivations, and good luck figuring out everything that's going on in this complex world!
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 17th, 2012
In the 1930’s, the orphaned Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) lives in the access tunnels of the Gare Montparnasse in Paris, winding the clocks, making sure that no one knows his guardian uncle has long-since gone AWOL, and filching bits and pieces of mechanisms that will allow him, he hopes, to repair the automaton he keeps in his living quarters. This is his last connection to his deceased father, and his dream is that the repaired machine will grant him a message from the beyond.
